Exploration rights granted to Brokolonko
property near Saramacca
TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2018 /CNW/ - IAMGOLD
Corporation ("IAMGOLD" or the "Company") has signed an
agreement with the Government of Suriname whereby it has been
granted the exploration rights to the Brokolonko property. The
property is located approximately 30 kilometres from the Rosebel
mill in Suriname and just northwest of the previously acquired
Saramacca property and the Sarafina property optioned to IAMGOLD.
Unlike Saramacca and Sarafina, IAMGOLD has not acquired Brokolonko
from a third party, but has instead secured the rights to
exploration directly from the Government of Suriname. (See attached
map).
"Securing the exploration rights to Brokolonko cements another
step in our strategy to consolidate prospective land packages
within the vicinity of the Rosebel Mine," said Steve Letwin, IAMGOLD's President and CEO. "It
was just last September that we announced an initial resource
estimate for Saramacca a year following its acquisition, and are
now working towards an initial production start in 2019.
Brokolonko, which we believe is located on the same mineralization
trend as Saramacca, could yield another source of higher grade,
softer rock that would further extend the life of Rosebel and
further improve its cost profile. Having access to numerous
concessions around Rosebel presents an opportunity to add years to
the life of the Rosebel mine, and is allowing us to consolidate an
emerging new gold district anchored by Rosebel that is mutually
beneficial to IAMGOLD and the Republic of Suriname."
The Brokolonko property is the third property that IAMGOLD has
secured within the Unincorporated Joint Venture "UJV" area as
defined in the Agreement with the Government of Suriname announced
on April 15, 2013. The UJV area is a
circular area, excluding the Rosebel concession, which extends 45
kilometres from the Rosebel mill and comprises approximately 6,200
square kilometres. Under the Agreement the Government of Suriname
has the option of taking a 30% participating interest in any of the
properties falling under the jurisdiction of the UJV agreement,
with IAMGOLD retaining the other 70%.
The Brokolonko property, comprising approximately 105
km2, has a history of episodic small scale mining
activity dating back to the 1960's. Regionally, the area has
been explored since the 1990's, principally by Golden Star
Resources and later as a joint venture between Golden Star and Newmont Mining. Much of that
work focused on what was delineated as the Anomaly M Trend on the
Saramacca concession. Reconnaissance work and geochemical auger
sampling programs undertaken by predecessors in the general
northwest extension identified a series of gold anomalies on both
the Sarafina and Brokolonko properties. To date the Brokolonko
property has been tested by limited drilling.
Next Steps
The Brokolonko property will require
significant future exploration to confirm the presence of
mineralization and to advance it to a resource stage. In the coming
months, geological compilation and mapping will be initiated, along
with auger geochemistry to confirm the location and intensity of
historical gold anomalies identified by predecessors. To support
this targeting effort, an airborne magnetic and Versatile Time
Domain Electromagnetic survey is scheduled to begin in mid-February
for completion by the end of March. The survey will cover the
Saramacca structural corridor interpreted to extend from the
Saramacca concession northwest through the Sarafina and Brokolonko
concessions, a distance of approximately 15 kilometres. Targets
arising from this initial phase of exploration will be prioritized
for follow up by a 'first pass' reverse circulation drilling
program to be planned following the initial work program.
Forward Looking Statement
This news release contains
forward-looking statements. All statements, other than of
historical
fact, that address activities, events or developments that the
Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the
future (including, without limitation, statements regarding
expected, estimated or planned gold production, all-in sustaining
costs and other cost estimates, capital expenditures and
exploration expenditures and statements regarding the estimation of
mineral resources and mineral reserves, exploration results,
life-of-mine estimates and potential mineral resources and mineral
reserves) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may",
"will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate",
"believe", "prospective", "significant", "significant potential",
"substantial", transformative", "intend", "plan" or "project" or
the negative of these words or other variations on these words or
comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a
number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the
Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual
results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in
the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause
actual results or events to differ materially from current
expectations include, among other things, without limitation,
failure to meet expected, estimated or planned gold production,
unexpected increases in all-in sustaining costs or other costs,
unexpected increases in capital expenditures and exploration
expenditures, variation in the mineral content within the
material identified as mineral resources and mineral reserves from
that predicted, changes in development or mining plans due to
changes in logistical, technical or other factors, the possibility
that future exploration results will not be consistent with the
Company's expectations, changes in world gold markets and other
risks disclosed in IAMGOLD's most recent Form 40-F/Annual
Information Form on file with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities.
Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which
it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities
laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any
forward-looking statement.
Qualified Person Information
The technical information
relating to exploration activities disclosed in this news release
was prepared under the supervision of, and reviewed and verified
by, Craig MacDougall, P.Geo., Senior
Vice President, Exploration, IAMGOLD. Mr. MacDougall is a
Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About IAMGOLD
IAMGOLD (www.iamgold.com) is a mid-tier
mining company with four operating gold mines on three continents.
A solid base of strategic assets in North and South America and West Africa is complemented by development and
exploration projects and continued assessment of accretive
acquisition opportunities. IAMGOLD is in a strong financial
position with extensive management and operational expertise.
Please note:
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SOURCE IAMGOLD Corporation